that will do adequately for starters.
But don’t forget an opportunity for our C in C to flash his package in a flight suit…(query:did Karl Rove pad the presidential pud? Inquiring minds want to know…)
Which is a shitty way to perform a policing exercise.
We’re at war with Pakistan now? I must have missed that news.
I don’t think the purpose of the war was to distract us from getting Al-Qaida (nor did it have squat to do with Al-Qaida), but yes, that did happen.
Not me. Murder is murder. You can easily “go after” Al-Qaida without resorting to it.
Semi-correct, but we’ll run with it.
Not me. Bush can plant spies in and around terrorist organizations all day long and it won’t bother me in the least. When he wants to tap my phone without a court order, on the other hand, yes, I get a little pissy.
[ul][li]I want to stop acting like radical muslims are our enemy and start acting like terrorists are. If you can show a link between a particular radical muslim and a terrorist organization, feel free to get a court order to pursue that avenue.[/li]
[li]I want us to round up terrorists in foreign countries with whom we are not at war using the same methods we would use to round them up in our own country. “Collateral damage” is not an acceptable method of action in our own country, so it shouldn’t be in Pakistan (or anywhere else outside of Iraq, and I’ll leave my opinion of our actions there for another thread). Would you have accepted bombiing of Joseph Padilla’s apartment complex when “going after” him?[/li]
[li]I want us to stop doing exactly what the terrorists want us to do, which is piss off perfectly rational people, and having them look at the terrorists as being the lesser of two evils. Al-Qaida very likely has a presence in Pakistan. They’re not killing people there, we are.[/li]
[li]If we are going to call Pakistan an ally, I want us to treat them as such. If we have information that organization A is going to be at location B at a specific time, then we either ask them to help us, and offer our help if they wish. You do not drop bombs, no matter how precisly aimed, at your allies. People have equated this with the Israel and Palestinian conflict elsewhere, but they’re not allies. When the prime minister of our allied country responds to our actions in his country with a “WTF?”, we’re doing something wrong.[/li]
[li]I want for us to release every single prisoner in Guantanamo (and elsewhere, but I can’t list what they don’t tell me exists) for whom we can’t gather enough evidence to take to trial at this time. Perhaps it’s not too late and their sons won’t have become terrorists to avenge the wrongs by this time. I want for us to put the others on trial immediately. I want for us to stop gathering up everyone in the streets when we do fuck up and can’t seem to decide if we’re at war with a country or its governing regime.[/li]
[li]I want for us to stop calling everyone who fights us a “terrorist”, as there are quite a few people who just want us to leave their fucking country which did us no harm. There are terrorists out there, but throwing the word around willy nilly just makes it easy to have the label apply to us in the minds of those who could be our friends and allies.[/li]
[li]I want us to retain translators of foreign languages for intelligence gathering, even if they happen to watch gay porn after hours. Hell, if it’s good enough for our “journalist” plants, it should be good enough for our translation needs.[/li]
[li]I want us to be the good guys, so that finding people willing to help us gather intelligence won’t be as difficult.[/li]
[li]I want for our leaders (of any political persuasion) to be honest to our own people, and to the world at large, with respect to our intentions, motivations, and actions as it pertains to international issues. Then, if we are indeed on the right path, we’ll have no problem getting the support needed to make things a lot less painful for all. If we are on the wrong path, at least we’ll know it.[/li]
[li]I want the Democratic leadership of this country to tell the fear mongers to fuck the hell off, and do the right thing, even if they think it will cost them seats. I’d rather our current leaders fuck up the our standing in the world and then let us step in and repair the damage over fucking it up with our blessing. The former allows for much less damage to be done and it allows us to man up to our country’s past mistakes with a straight face. In the end, I’d rather be right than win.[/li]
[li]I want for us to clean up our government and eliminate corruption from all parties, from the voting process itself, and from the corporations that help us in this effort. If you want to be involved in voting in this country, you’d better have as your primary goal that every person will have full and equal access to having their voice heard. If you want to run this country, you’d better figure out how to do so on that salary that you are given by law. If you want to be the “vote-monitors” elsewhere, clean up at home first. To do otherwise just increases the number of people who question our motives, rightfully so in many cases.[/li]
[li]Finally, I want for us to work closely with the law enforcement agencies in our allied countries (including our new allies we make through the above changes, and that should be most of the world) to root out actual terrorist organizations, and as a result of being the actual good guy, have no problems getting the UN come down hard on those countries that don’t play ball.[/li]
[li]In other words, I want us to be part of a global effort to reign in terrorism through a combination of eliminating its root causes, enhanced and legal gathering of intelligence (None of those gray areas need apply. If you need a lawyer to tell you if it’s legal or not, and if many of them disagree, it’s probably not), and a quick and effective police response as we root out terrorists in a globally united effort.[/li][/ul]
Thorough enough?
It really is frustrating to contemplate the profoundly self-deluded state that afflicts the very slice of American society that controls the political levers, and hence the projection of power outward into the cringing world.
The whiney “victimhood is glory”, kill-em-all let god sort it out crowd seems to have a negative bullshit filter going–all that is true they deem false, all that is false they deem true.
They are so determined to be “right with God” that they are unable to perform the simple tasks of analysis that would demonstrate to them that they cannot get to where they want to be by going down the road they are choosing.
Finally, I want for us to work closely with the law enforcement agencies in our allied countries (including our new allies we make through the above changes, and that should be most of the world) to root out actual terrorist organizations, and as a result of being the actual good guy, have no problems getting the UN come down hard on those countries that don’t play ball.
nb:virtually all of the successes against al-q have been law enforcement successes, and not military successes.
Um, you’re kidding, right? You’re not?
Well, then here’s a case of Rice-a-roni, thanks for playing. Better get back to your X-Box and call us when you have a clue. I’m late for my evil Republican puppy-kickers meeting…
(Now I remember why I shouldn’t bother with GD…)
b:virtually all of the successes against al-q have been law enforcement successes, and not military successes.
your comment?
What if Habib’s dinner is in the apartment above your mother’s? Still okay with sending a missile in to do the job?
Answer yes, and I’ll call you a liar in GD, and I’ll be correct.
and here we confront the ugly problem of american exceptionalism. OUR mothers, OUR children, OUR towers, they count.
But THEIR kids, fuck’em
Oh, and for those who still are okay with “collateral damage” in countries with which we’re not at war, here is an apartment building where Jose Padilla’s mom lived. Who wants first shot? No clue who the neighbors are, but with any luck, they might all be Mexicans, right?
If Habib is planning on killing untold thousands the next day, week, month, etc. then I would understand. I’d still mourn the loss and be upset but my anger would be directed at Habib and whoever invited him to be there. But I’d also rejoice that the monster was stopped short thereby saving thousands of lives.
Does your mother know that you feel this way?
So I guess the people in question, who we might or might not have actually hit, who may or may not have actually been within 100 miles of the site, had a plan to kill untold thousands the next day? Cite?
If not, bullshit. If so, I still call bullshit. You’d tell them to send someone in to take him out, not shoot a fucking missile into the building while your mom watched TV.
how many “do overs” do you get? You know, in case the first couple of tries only get mothers, but not the bomber?
Sometimes it’s about more than me or her and BTW - I’d expect her to feel the very same way.
Shit, you all are starting to make alaricgoth look like the fucking voice of reason. That’s some scary shit. 
You’re telling me…
Apologies, that’s alaricthegoth.
not just any…
apparently that is how the Romans remembered my illustrious forebear following the unpleasantness in 410 surrounding his collection efforts vis-a-vis certain outstanding accounts that had been shamefully neglected by the Emperor’s treasurer…
What, you expect me to answer differently just because it would be my mother instead of someone else’s. I mourn the loss either way, but I would still rejoice in the untold thousands of lives saved. What if your mother was in that group?